Final Four Bound

NORMAN – Senior Andrew Harris and junior Spencer Papa kept their historic run at the 2017 NCAA Division I Men' Tennis Championships rolling on Saturday in Athens, Ga. OU's newly-minted All-America doubles duo beat the nation's No. 2-ranked pair to earn a berth in the national semifinals round on Sunday.

Harris and Papa won their third match of the tournament, taking down No. 2-seed Martin Redlicki and Evan Zhu of UCLA, 6-1, 7-6(4), in the quarterfinals round to become the first doubles team in Oklahoma history to advance to the final four at the NCAA Championships. OU's three wins so far have come against tandems ranked No. 23, No. 6 and No. 2.

“We played a great opponent today in UCLA,” Oklahoma head coach Nick Crowell said. “Redlicki is the defending national champion from a year ago so we knew it would be a great match. Spencer and Andrew came out like they did yesterday. Serving really well and executing at a high level around the net.”

"They stuck together as a team and when it was time to step up they hit some big shots to win the match.”
-Head Coach Nick Crowell

Ranked No. 15, the Sooners cruised through the first set, posting a dominant 6-1 win. UCLA put up a fight in the second. When Harris and Papa earned an early break to lead by two games, UCLA broke back to get the match back on serve. That wouldn't last long however as OU's top pair took another break and then secured a hold to lead 5-3. The Sooners had a chance to put the match away, serving at 5-4, but UCLA secured the needed break and the second set went to a breaker.

In the deciding frame, Harris and Papa took three points from UCLA's serve while the Bruins managed just one from OU and the Sooners won 7-4 to secure the match win.

“We knew the second set was going to be a battle,” Crowell said. “We got up 5-3, but they played a great game to break us at 5-4. We faced some adversity, but they stuck together as a team and when it was time to step up they hit some big shots to win the match.”

The Sooners are now just one win away from the national title match. OU will take on the No. 4 overall seed, Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim of Wake Forest on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT.

Oklahoma's senior captain Alex Ghilea was also in action on Saturday. After making history on Friday by becoming just the second Sooner ever to make the quarterfinals round of the NCAA singles tournament, Ghilea faced No. 11 Tom Fawcett of Stanford on Saturday.

The Neamt, Romania, native fell 6-2, 6-2, snapping an 11-match winning streak that included six consecutive straight-sets wins and three straight wins over top-40 opponents.

“What a great tournament for Alex,” Crowell said. “Making it all the way to the quarterfinals is just a fantastic tournament. He ran into a guy who played a really good match today. He put a lot of pressure on Alex early. We tried to get things going, but Fawcett just stepped it up a little bit. Alex had a great run and I couldn't be more proud of him.”

One of the all-time greatest Sooners, Ghilea ends his career as one of seven Oklahoma student-athletes to earn All-America honors in singles. He ranks tied for fourth in OU history with 100 career singles wins and is only the fifth Sooner ever to reach the century mark. He has been part of three NCAA Runner-Up team finishes, two Big 12 Championships and was the Most Outstanding Player at the 2015 ITA National Indoor Championships where the Sooners won their first ever national title.